Searching for Part and Newly Qualified Finance Professionals?

Are you finding it difficult to hire a Part Qualified / Newly Qualified Accountant?

 

Firstly, you are not alone! The market has been consistently busy for 2 – 3 years at this level and competition for talented upcoming finance professionals has remained steadily fierce.

The range of specific opportunities available to ACCA / CIMA studiers at relatively early stage of their careers is as broad as ever. They typically have a diverse mix of businesses (of all shapes, sizes and across various interesting industries) to select from.

Increasingly (and completely understandably) they fully realise and acknowledge their own value and have higher demands from their next employer / challenge.

So, what are they asking for?

 

–          ‘Commercial exposure and business partnering’.  Newly qualified accountants seem to have less appetite for ‘serving their time’ – often wanting to swiftly get away from the transactional accounting / financial accounts and into business facing roles where they can be involved in strategy and decision making.  If your role is very ‘dry’ in nature then it may be worth considering including exciting projects to ensure it is balanced out.

 

–          Work life balance.  Again earlier in their careers accounting professionals are considering the expectation of their employer for presenteeism.  They are keen to find businesses that can offer the flexibility both now and into their future. They have raised expectations of their employers to offer them freedom.  They are less and less likely to settle for 20 days annual leave + stats!

 

–          Mentoring and career development.  In the current climate expecting someone to come into your finance team and ‘sit and earn their stripes’ is going to make recruitment and retention tough. Candidates in your market are looking for clear development routes, well mapped scope to develop and progress.  They are also looking for clearly defined mentoring.  Those with ambition want to be reassured that you can offer the support and runway to allow them to realise their potential.

 

–          The right salary.  Often not as high a demand as employers might expect however, as with any supply vs demand market you have be willing to invest the right amount to secure the right candidate. Low-balling offers is definitely not sensible.

 

–          Financial support to get out of current contracts.  For a number of years businesses have included contract caveats that see fees for ACCA or CIMA needing to be paid back… we are seeing an effective counterpunch from employers willing to reimburse their new starters for the fees owed back.

 

If you have recruitment needs in finance at a site in the UK we would welcome the chance to speak. Our team have a proven ability to complete challenging accountancy and finance assignments for PLCs, VC/PE backed groups and SMEs across all market segments.